[Weezer]

So,

My friend calls me last night, panicked because he spilled a cup full of gatorade into the base of his FP imac, and it had shut off. Thinking his mobo was fried, I pretty much told him he was ****ed. So this morning he calls me and tells me everything is working fine, and his imac survived. So my question is, should he do anything about this? There is lots of sticky dried gatorade in the inner guts of his imac, should he try to clean it out?

[snct]

Originally posted by Weezer:
So,

My friend calls me last night, panicked because he spilled a cup full of gatorade into the base of his FP imac, and it had shut off. Thinking his mobo was fried, I pretty much told him he was ****ed. So this morning he calls me and tells me everything is working fine, and his imac survived. So my question is, should he do anything about this? There is lots of sticky dried gatorade in the inner guts of his imac, should he try to clean it out?

Yes. I have no idea if the thermal paste in the machine would be affected by the spill or not (providing any of the liquid got onto those areas), but that's just one thing that he won't want to fail. There may also be a corrosive risk with the metal parts/connections. If he loves his iMac, he'd better get a technician to clean the machine out.

[einmakom]

Distilled water.

[Weezer]

Originally posted by einmakom:
Distilled water.

What, just pour some in? or actually open it up...? If he has applecare, what's the word on them cleaning it for him?

[einmakom]

Originally posted by Weezer:
What, just pour some in? or actually open it up...? If he has applecare, what's the word on them cleaning it for him?

If he has applecare and takes it in for service, all bets are off, they'll state that he has voided his warranty, period.

Unplug the machine.

Take the bottom off.

Lightly wipe with a soft rag wet with distilled water (NOT tap water.)

Reassemble. WAIT a day or two for it to fully dry.

[whatparadox]

Originally posted by einmakom:
If he has applecare and takes it in for service, all bets are off, they'll state that he has voided his warranty, period.

Unplug the machine.

Take the bottom off.

Lightly wipe with a soft rag wet with distilled water (NOT tap water.)

Reassemble. WAIT a day or two for it to fully dry.

Mostly a Mee Too! post, but your pal's warranty is most probably gone.

The gatorade WILL eventaully cause the system to fry. I knew a girl who spilled beer on a laptop keyboard - worked fine for about three months, then just quit. Fried the mainboard, something in the beer had been eating away at the traces.

If the distilled water works, I don't see any way that would cause problems. I've always used electrical or circuit board cleaner that you can find in any hardware store.

[misc]

Yeah, the best thing to do if you spill something sticky is to quickly wash it out with water. It's wet, but wont be sticky or acidic.